A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
Pioneer and Patriot Families of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, by Clement F. Heverly [in Two Volumes, 1913 & 1915] states the following:
Amos York [grandfather of the subject of this entry], son of William and Hannah (Palmer) York, was born Oct. 13, 1730 at Stonington, Conn. He married, 1752, Lucretia, daughter of Manassah and Keziah (Geer) Miner of Voluntown, New London county, Conn. In 1773 he removed with his family to Wyoming, thence to Wyalusing about 1774. Here he had carried on his improvements with much success. He had erected a good log house, a log barn and had a considerable stock of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, and had raised sufficient quantities of grain for their support. Upon the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, he was known as an active and ardent Whig, which arrayed against him the enmity of his Tory neighbors. Apprehending trouble from the Indians, in the Fall of 1777 he went to Wyoming to seek the advice of friends and make arrangements for the removal of his family. At Wyoming, it was thought that there would be no danger from the savages in the winter, and if in the Spring they continued to favor the interest of the British, there would be ample time to seek the protection of the lower settlements. The capture of some of his neighbors occasioned new alarm, but there seemed to be no alternative but run the risk of being undisturbed until Spring.
On February 12 and 13, 1778, there occurred a severe snow storm. Each evening, a negro from the old Indian town came to Mr. York's on a trifling excuse and remained until late in the evening. On the 14th the storm ceased and Mr. York determined to find out the reason for the negro's strange conduct. Immediately after breakfast he set out on horseback on an errand to Mr. Pauling's. Without suspicion, he entered the house of this supposed friend and received a cordial welcome. But it was the malicious welcome of a treacherous enemy.
Between 40 and 50 Indians, led on by Parshall Terry, Jr. and Tom Green, Tories who had arrived in the settlement and were waiting there during the storm. The moment they saw Mr. York, they gave the war whoop, and his white neighbor told him that he was their prisoner.
Terry and Green, accompanied by twelve of the savages, repaired with Mr. York to his house for plunder. Mrs. York, with the devotion of a wife and mother, made a most touching plea with Terry and Green for the safety of her husband and the protection of her family. "Then," says a daughter of Mr. York, "They drove the cattle into the road, stripped the house of everything of value they could carry away, broke open the chests, tied up the plunder in sheets and blankets, and put the bundles on the backs of the men. Father had to take a pack of his own goods. When they got prepared to start, my father asked permission to speak to his wife. He took her by the hand but did not speak. When the company started, my father was compelled to walk, carry a bundle and assist in driving his cattle, while his favorite riding mare carried Terry." The journey was one of indescribable suffering from exposure to the cold as well as from grief of mind. Mr. York was taken to Canada, subsequently exchanged and returned to his old home in Connecticut, where hearing of the disastrous battle of Wyoming, and learning nothing of his family, he fell sick of fever and died (October 30, 1778) eleven days before his family reached him.
The helpless family--a mother and eight children, her son nine years of age and her youngest child only eight months old, were thus left in the depth of winter without protection and with but little clothing, bedding and provisions. They remained here three weeks, when Captain Buck arrived and escorted them to Wyoming. Mrs. York was a witness of the horrible battle in which her son-in-law, Capt. Aholiab Buck, was killed, leaving her widowed daughter with an infant four months old. As soon as it was safe to do so, she set out with her son, eight daughters and orphan grandchild for her home in Connecticut. On the way, her youngest child died, and Mrs. York was compelled to bury it with her own hands. In narrating their flight to Connecticut, a daughter, Sarah, says: "When we were at the North river, where General Washington lay, an officer informed him there was a woman in distress. Washington ordered her to be brought to his tent. She told him her story, and Washington gave her fifty dollars. But we did not need money to bear traveling expenses, for the people on the road treated us with great sympathy and kindness." In 1785, Mrs. York and her children returned to their old home in Wyalusing, occupying a 600-acre tract, which had been conveyed to her father, Manassah Miner, who was one of the original stockholders in the Susquehanna Company. "Mrs. York was a woman of remarkable energy, deep piety, and ardently attached to the doctrines of the Presbyterian church, of which she was the nursing mother." She was born February 16, 1733; died October, 1821.
The children of Amos and Lucretia York were: Wealthy Ann (died in infancy), Esther M., Lucretia, Wealthy Ann, Keziah, Sarah, Temperance, Manassah, Berinthia, Hannah, Amos (died in infancy). Esther M., born November 15, 1754, married Aaron Smith of Brooklyn, Conn; Lucretia, born April 21, 1757, married first Capt. Aholiab Buck, second Major Justus Gaylord of Wyalusing; Wealthy Ann, born November 3, 1759, married Benjamin Smith of Kingston, Pa.; Keziah, born January 1, 1762, married Job Turrell of New Milford, Conn.; Sarah, born May 4, 1764, married Robert Carr of Yates county, N.Y.; Temperance, born May 1, 1766, married Daniel Turrell; Berinthia, born September 27, 1770, married William Sherman Buck; Hannah, born April 27, 1773, married Stephen Beckwith.
The son, Manassah Miner, born October 11, 1769 [father of the subject of this entry], became a man of great usefulness and was noted as a Presbyterian minister. "He was abundant in labors. He wrought with his hands, taught school, preached through a large section of country not only on the Sabbath, but through the week, gathered the children for catechetical instruction, and older persons for Bible study. He occupied an extensive field, preaching regularly at Towanda, Wysox, Wyalusing, Black Walnut and occasionally at out stations. His name is still spoken with respect and veneration, and his memory is blessed." He died January 2, 1830 in Wysox. He married, 1792, Elizabeth Arnold of Black Walnut. Their children were: Amos, Vesta, Augusta, Miranda, Lucretia, Polly, Miner and Sarah. Amos, born Oct. 17, 1793 [the subject of this entry], married Harriet Hinman, died May 16, 1878 in Wysox; Vesta married Adonijah Alden of Monroe, and died in the West; Augusta married Abner C. Hinman of Wysox; Miranda married George Carr and died in New York state; Lucretia married Hannibal Hamlin and died in the West; Miner removed West, married there and died at Fort Scott, Kansas; Sarah never married, died in Illinois about 1864. Mrs. York died about 1845 at Byron, Illinois.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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